


Love With All Your Heart

by TheLastLonelyWriter



Series: Camelove 2021 [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Camelove 2021, Canon Era, Day 2: Knights in Shining Armour, Fluff with feelings, Love Confessions, M/M, also Elyan's childhood, we're discussing Percival's backstory now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29303853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLastLonelyWriter/pseuds/TheLastLonelyWriter
Summary: Even when he has so little free time, Elyan spends it doing something for someone else. And he does it with all his heart.Written for Camelove Day 2 - Knights in Shining Armour
Relationships: Elyan & Gwen (Merlin), Elyan/Percival (Merlin)
Series: Camelove 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2151726
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: Camelove 2021





	Love With All Your Heart

It had been a long while since Elyan had really, truly, had a whole day off. He somewhat suspected that this rarity had been arranged by Gwen, but she refused to admit to it. When Elyan had seen her the night before, she had only asked him if he could go down into the lower town and check on the forge, please?

With his unfortunate habit of being a ridiculously early riser, Elyan was already making his way through the mostly empty streets of the lower town as the sun just began to appear in the clear sky. He had dressed in some of his old clothes, and only a few people paid him any mind as he neared the forge. It made the looming responsibility of being a knight of Camelot a little smaller, and Elyan was grateful for it. 

Gwen still owned the forge and their old home, but she had left both under the care of a young family with three rambunctious children. Gwen and Elyan both adored playing with the children, who were still too young to grasp the importance of who Gwen and Elyan were. When Elyan reached the forge, it was still locked up for the night. He unlocked it with the same key that his father had given him when he was a little boy. When he was young, not loosing it was a mark of sibling superiority over Gwen's forgetful tendencies. All the years he was traveling, it remained on a cord around his neck, a reminder that he had a home. 

Elyan set about getting the forge ready, moving various projects and discarded toys away from the heat to a workbench near the door. He came across several flattened lumps of metal, and unsure if they were the beginnings of one of the children’s projects, moved them as well. He took out his recent work, stored neatly in a chest near the back of the room, and produced a folded sheet of paper from his pocket, leaving it open on a nearby shelf for reference. The sounds of the waking lower town floated in through the windows as Elyan began to work. 

The loud, flashy part of the project he had finished the last time he had stolen a day to come down to the forge, and he was now placing the final touches on the carefully engraved pendant, checking his reference paper frequently. 

Eric, the man who ran the forge, arrived with his oldest son, Rowan, in tow, unsurprised to find Elyan already at work. Early mornings were the easiest time for Elyan to get away, mostly in an attempt to avoid training when Arthur was in a bad mood.

Rowan sat patiently on the workbench beside Elyan, watching him work. When he couldn’t contain his questions anymore, he spoke up.

“What are you doing?” he asked, when Elyan paused his work.

“Engraving a picture,” said Elyan.

“What’s the picture of?”

“You’ll see when it’s done,” replied Elyan, teasingly hiding his work from Rowan’s sight. 

“Leave him alone, Rowan,” chastised Eric, who was opening up the front of the forge for customers. “Come help me get ready.”

Rowan deemed that an acceptable distraction, and hurried to his father’s side. Elyan set aside his work for a moment, watching Eric lift Rowan up to grab a tool from a high shelf. Eric rewarded Rowan with a bundle of sticky honey rolls, which Rowan held like it was pure gold. 

“Remember to share,” scolded Eric, and Rowan begrudgingly offered a roll to Elyan. 

“Thank you, Rowan,” said Elyan, taking the roll. He had skipped eating in order to get to work early, and no one in their right mind would ever say no to honey rolls from Thea, Eric’s wife. 

“Will you be staying this morning, Sir Elyan?” asked Eric. 

Elyan gave Eric a pointed look, and Eric grinned, rolling his eyes like Tom used to when Gwen and Elyan were misbehaving. 

“Will you be staying this morning, Elyan?” repeated Eric. 

Elyan had a habit of disappearing just after Eric arrived, hoping to return to the castle before too many people noticed he had left. 

“I’ve the whole day off, so I’m going to see if I can finish this project before someone finds me and drags me away to do work,” replied Elyan. 

“May I ask,” said Eric, taking a moment to look at the paper Elyan was working from, “where this is?”

The paper was worn around the edges, and the folds were starting to wear through a little. But Elyan had kept it in good condition for nearly six months now, studying it to get every line correct. It was a simple, quick sketch that captured a moment of scenery- a tall, bent tree in the foreground, fields all around, and looming, far-off mountains, with a twisting stream running down their slopes in back. Elyan had perfectly recreated it, the design in gold set into a flat disk of silver metal. He only had to smooth out the edges and thread a length of cord through the hole at the top and it would be done. 

“It’s-” began Elyan, unsure how to proceed, “It’s a place that’s very special to a friend of mine, that they can’t return to. I’ve made this so they can carry a little bit of it with them.”

Eric put a comforting hand on Elyan’s shoulder. 

“I’m sure your friend will love it, Elyan. It’s some very fine work, and you’ve put a lot of your heart into it.”

Elyan nodded, running a finger over the golden mountains. Eric turned to continue his own work, but was interrupted by Rowan’s voice from the front room. 

“Hello!” said the young boy, cheerfully greeting whoever had entered the forge. Eric hurried to meet them, and Elyan took a deep breath. 

Eric’s mention of his heart had dredged up the feelings he had been cleverly ignoring for the entire time that he had been working on this piece. Elyan wasn’t quite sure he could really name the feeling yet, but he strongly suspected that Gwen might pronounce it ‘love’. 

“Elyan,” said Eric, poking his head around the door frame and pulling Elyan from his thoughts, “could you watch the front room for me a moment?”

Elyan set the pendant aside, following Eric into the front room. 

“Margaret needs me to go help with a broken cart, a few streets over, it’ll only be a minute, by her description,” continued Eric. 

Margaret, a young woman in a dark blue dress, stared at Elyan with wide eyes. 

“If you are helping a knight of Camelot then we can surely wait,” she said, quickly.

Elyan smiled at her, and she blushed, suddenly finding the floor rather interesting. 

“It’s no trouble, really,” said Elyan. “I’ll watch the shop and Eric will get your cart fixed in no time.”

Eric filled a bag with an assortment of tools, and held the door open for Margaret, who went out in a star-struck daze. 

“Be good,Rowan,” Eric called over his shoulder. “And quiet!”

Rowan stuck out his tongue at his father. Elyan laughed and shooed Eric down the street, even as Eric tried to turn back and scold Rowan.

“We’ll be fine,” promised Elyan. “Go.”

Once Eric had gone, Elyan turned around to find that Rowan had disappeared. A faint giggle from somewhere to his left quickly dissipated Elyan’s worry. Rowan had recently discovered the joys of playing hide and seek, and Elyan seemed to be his newest victim. 

“Oh dear,” Elyan announced loudly to the empty room. “Where could Rowan have gone? He was here a minute ago.”

His efforts were rewarded with another giggle, and this time he identified it as coming from behind the open door to the back room. Slowly, Elyan made his way to the opposite side of the room, dropping down to check under the workbench. 

“He’s not over here!” he called. 

Rowan laughed, then quickly stifled it, hitting the door with his elbow as he did. It swung away a little, and he grabbed it and pulled it back. Elyan bit back his own amusement. 

“Poor Rowan,” he lamented, quietly taking a step towards Rowan’s hiding place. “He must have wandered out into the town and gotten lost.” There was no reaction. Elyan raised his voice and took another step. “He must really be regretting not listening to his father about being good!”

With one final step, Elyan threw back the door and scooped Rowan up into his arms. Rowan cheered, kicking as Elyan spun him around. 

“I don’t know about regretting it,” said a voice from the front of the shop. 

Elyan turned around, still holding Rowan, to find Gwen watching him from just inside the door. She grinned.

“You never regretted slipping away and getting lost in the town when you were little,” she continued. “Especially when you ended up at Amelia’s-”

“Shush!” said Elyan, depositing Rowan on the floor. Rowan rushed to hug Gwen’s knees, and Gwen ruffled his hair. 

“How are you?” she asked Rowan. 

“Honey roll?” replied Rowan, digging in his pocket to produce the last honey roll, wrapped in it’s cloth. Gwen laughed. 

“Why don’t we split it?” she suggested, and Rowan happily began tearing the roll in half. He offered Gwen her piece, and then wandered back over to his chair to eat his own. Gwen took a bite of her roll. As she chewed, she offered the rest of it to Elyan. 

“I’ve already had one,” said Elyan, and Gwen shrugged. 

“Your loss then,” she said, taking another bite. “I came to see that you weren’t spending your day off doing work where I can’t see you.”

“I would never-” began Elyan, placing one hand over his heart. 

“You would too and we both know it,” said Gwen. “At this rate I’ll have to start sending knights out here to make sure that you’re resting.”

“You’re the one who told me to check on the forge!” 

Gwen raised her hands in surrender. 

“He’s done a wonderful job checking on the forge, your majesty,” said Eric, entering the room with a small bow. “Gwen, I mean,” he corrected himself. 

“Well, Eric, if he’s still working in a few hours,” said Gwen, “you have my full permission to kick him out. I’ll even send the knights to help you.”

Elyan rolled his eyes. Gwen bumped his shoulder, before heading back out the door. Eric shut it behind her and turned just in time to catch Rowan, scooping Rowan up into his arms.

“Did you behave for Elyan and Gwen?” asked Eric. 

Rowan gave him a sticky smile. 

“He was a perfect angel,” said Elyan. 

Eric smiled gratefully at Elyan, busy with wiping the leftover honey from Rowan’s face. Elyan watched them for a moment, struck with a memory of his father doing the same for him and Gwen. Then he started into the back room.

“I’m going to see if I can get my work finished before Gwen sends out a royal decree for me to take a nap,” he said, and Eric gestured distractedly that he had heard. 

Elyan spent the rest of the morning hammering out the edges of the pendant, relaxing into the rhythm of his work and the chatter of the street outside. At some point, Eric had shut the door to the front room, probably to keep Rowan out of Elyan’s way, but Elyan hadn’t even noticed. He was all but dead to the world until just after noon, when he finally finished the project that had been months in the making- threading the cord through the hole at the top of the pendant and lying it reverently on the worktable so he could simply look at it. 

A loud knock on the front door of the forge interrupted Elyan’s thoughts. If Gwen came back and saw him staring at the pendant like a love-struck fool, he would never hear the end of it. Hastily, Elyan tucked his finished work in his pocket and began putting away his tools. As he finished clearing his workbench, folding the paper and tucking it away with his other design sketches, the door to the front room opened and Rowan stepped in. 

“Dad says there’s someone here to see you,” declared Rowan. 

He held out his tiny hand, having recently taken up asking to be paid for anything he was told to do. Elyan made a great show of searching his pockets before producing a wooden spinning top that he had brought for just this purpose. 

“Thank you for the message,” he said, handing Rowan the top. 

Rowan looked at the top with wide eyes for a second before rushing back into the front room. Elyan followed him, closing the door behind him. At the front of the shop, Eric was seriously discussing something with two men, but paused to pick up Rowan. 

“Look what Elyan gave me!” crowed Rowan, holding out his new toy for everyone to see.

Eric shot Elyan an apologetic look, but Elyan waved off his concern. 

“Rowan said someone was here to see me?” Elyan asked, and Eric nodded, gesturing out the door before continuing his conversation. 

Elyan stepped outside to find Percival, dressed in casual clothes, waiting for him. Elyan grinned. 

“Did Gwen send you to make sure I’m not working?” he asked. 

“No,” replied Percival, “but she did mention that maybe I might like to get out of the castle for a day off, and perhaps I should also check and see if you were still at the forge.”

“Giving her political power was a mistake,” declared Elyan, with a laugh. “It’s only given her more opportunity to meddle in everyone’s lives. But I wouldn’t be opposed to a little time away.”

Percival smiled, and whatever words Elyan had been about to say next disappeared from his mind. 

“Let me just,” Elyan started, looking back at the forge, “Let me just tell Eric that I’ll be heading out for the day.”

He quickly stepped back inside, where Eric had left his customers to make their decision and was teaching Rowan how to use the top on the workbench. 

“I’m leaving for the day,” said Elyan, ruffling Rowan’s hair, “So tell Gwen I’ve followed her instructions, if she comes back to check.”

“Will do, Elyan,” said Eric. “Enjoy your day off.”

Elyan’s hand slipped into his pocket to trace the line of the mountains on the pendant. 

“I’ll certainly try,” he said, and made his way back out to where Percival was waiting for him. 

“Ready to go?” Percival asked. 

Elyan nodded, not quite trusting his mouth not to say something stupid like ‘no’ or ‘I have something I want to give you’ or ‘my sister probably thinks I might be in love with you’. Being around Percival always seemed to make Elyan say stupid things. 

They made their way vaguely towards the center of the lower town and the busy market. Elyan found himself drifting closer and closer to Percival as more and more people filled the streets. When their hands brushed, Elyan was shocked back into reality.

“Have you eaten yet?” he asked, willing his brain to think about anything other than holding Percival’s hand..

Percival shook his head. 

“Have you?”

Elyan was hesitant to answer, because he often forgot to take meals, caught up in whatever else he was doing, and Percival had joined Gwen in her constant worrying over him.

“Just the honey roll that Rowan gave me this morning,” he said, before quickly adding, “Let’s stop by Thea’s stall and get some more.”

Percival smiled at the mention of Rowan. Along with Elyan and Gwen, most of the knights were frequent visitors to the forge. Rowan was particularly fond of demanding that Percival pick him up so that he could be the tallest in the room. 

Elyan and Percival made their way down a crowded street lined with brightly colored stalls. Now, with more people on the street, they were easily recognized and people stared after them. They were both grateful when Thea’s stall came into view. 

“Hello you two,” said Thea, as they stopped in front of her stall, “I have a feeling that you might be here for honey rolls.”

Elyan and Percival laughed. 

“We are indeed,” said Elyan. 

“You are worse than the kids,” declared Thea, already wrapping several rolls in a fresh cloth. 

As if summoned by their mention, Francis and Mary came tumbling out of the house behind Thea, hurrying to demand attention. 

“Look what I have!” called Francis, waving a tiny wooden sword all about. Mary and Thea both easily dodged it, but Elyan was a little too slow, and caught a smack to the side of his leg. 

“Be careful with that,” he said, crouching down to Francis’ height. 

“I’m going to be a knight like you!” declared Francis, brandishing the sword in the direction of the castle. “I’ll fight monsters and save everybody!”

Elyan smiled, ruffling Francis’ hair. Francis had always reminded him of Leon when he was young, right down to the wooden sword and single-minded determination to be a knight. 

“Are you practicing everyday with your sword?” asked Elyan. 

Francis nodded solemnly. 

“Every day, except for the days when I hit Mary on accident and I’m not allowed to use my sword. On those days I practice being very quiet.”

Elyan laughed, remembering days when he would hide from Gwen in the storage cupboards of their house. The only reason he had stopped was because running away into the woods became a much easier alternative. 

“Keep practicing, and you’ll be the greatest knight in the whole kingdom,” Elyan said, standing. 

Francis stared at his sword for a long moment, then reached up to pull on Elyan’s shirt. 

“Even greater than you?” he asked, wide-eyed. 

“Only if you’re very good at remembering to practice,” said Elyan. Then, leaning down like he was sharing a secret, he added, “And only if you don’t hit your sister with your sword. A knight would never do something so mean.”

“Ok!” said Francis, waving his sword about again, “I can do that!”

Elyan stood to pay Thea for the rolls.

Percival had picked up Mary, and she was happily telling him all about the frog she had caught the day before. Her hands were gesturing wildly as she talked, and Percival was listening with rapt attention. Elyan smiled, his fingers brushing over the pendant as he pulled out a handful of coins. 

“Elyan,” scolded Thea, “I’ve told you, you don’t have to pay. Not while we’re using your forge and living in your house.”

“Consider it advanced payment for whatever damage Francis manages to do with his sword,” insisted Elyan, pressing the coins into Thea’s hand. “I’ve seen first hand the chaos that can be caused by a five year old pretending to be a knight.”

Thea glanced at where Francis was now hacking at the trunk of a tree. 

“Alright, if you insist,” she conceded, handing over the rolls. “You two enjoy your day.”

She took a still babbling Mary from Percival, and waved the two of them off towards the gates of the town. Elyan and Percival started back down the street, and Elyan handed Percival a roll. 

“Do you think Francis will really become a knight?” asked Percival, as they made their way out of the town. 

“He’s certainly got the spirit,” replied Elyan. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking,” said Percival, “he wouldn’t have been able to, before the round table. Before we were knighted.”

Elyan took a bite of his roll. 

“I suppose,” he said, thoughtfully, “that would mean that any trouble he causes as a knight will be our fault.”

Percival laughed. 

“When you put it that way,” he said, “I’ll really have to place all the blame on you.”

“That’s no fair!” laughed Elyan. “He looks up to you plenty too!”

“But he said he was going to be a knight like you,” pointed out Percival. “So it really will be all your fault. 

“If he’s a knight like me he won’t cause any problems,” replied Elyan. “I’m a shining example of what a perfect knight should be.”

“Right, so last week when we were all locked out of the armory was someone else’s fault then?” prompted Percival.

“Lancelot’s,” said Elyan, with no hesitation. “If he hadn’t distracted me it never would have happened. 

Percival rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue that point. 

“I’ll have to inform Gwen of your new policy,” he said, bumping Elyan’s shoulder. “I’m sure it’s news to her that a knight would never be mean to his sister.”

“Gwen is much meaner to me than I am to her,” said Elyan, defensively. “And there’s no point in arguing that because you know I’m right.

Percival considered that statement. 

“Is the forge where you’ve been sneaking off to in the mornings?” he asked. 

Elyan weighed his options- should he admit to it? On the one hand, he would no longer be safely hidden from the other knights while he was skipping early morning training. On the other, he happened to know that Lancelot thought he was seeing a girl, and it was getting harder to field his questions about her by the day. 

“It is,” said Elyan, as they passed through the city gates. 

“I thought so,” said Percival. 

“How much are you going to win in the bet?” asked Elyan, pausing to kick a flat stone off into the grass, startling a flock of birds a little ways away.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Percival, looking back up the road towards Camelot.

Elyan laughed. 

“You always look away when you’re lying,” he pointed out. 

Percival sighed. In a stretch of silence, Elyan distractedly watched Percival’s nose scrunch up as he tried to remember all the bets that had been placed. 

“I’ve lost track of what Gwaine’s bet this week,” he finally admitted. “But it’s somewhere in the range of not having to pay for my own drinks this week.”

“I’ll need to hear all of the outrageous theories that were proposed,” said Elyan. 

“I’m sure you won’t be able to avoid them.”

Elyan realized, as they approached a crossing of several roads, that he had no idea where they were going. 

“Did Gwen happen to mention where she thought we should go, when she ever so subtly kicked us out of the castle for the day?” he asked. 

“She did, actually,” said Percival, “something about a river? She said you’d know what she meant.”

Elyan threw his hands up in defeat. 

“Is it really a day off if we’re just following the queen’s orders the whole day?” he demanded. 

“Well, we could go somewhere else,” said Percival, “but then you wouldn’t be a shining example of the perfect knight anymore. And you’d be being mean to your sister.”

Elyan let out a dramatic sigh. 

“The first is a tragedy that must be avoided at all costs,” he said. “And so we must go to the river- here’s our turn.”

“Is the second point not a tragedy?” teased Percival, as Elyan led them down a series of increasingly abandoned paths that wandered through the edge of the forest. 

“I’m no longer willing to talk about Gwen. She kicked us out of the castle and the thought of her does not get to come along.”

Percival laughed. Elyan stopped, making a great show of looking both ways down the path before pulling Percival around a thick cluster of trees to reveal a strip of grass running down to a slow moving stream. 

“We have arrived,” said Elyan, bowing an amused Percival into the clearing. 

“This place is well hidden,” remarked Percival. 

“Gwen and I found it when we were little,” said Elyan, wandering along the edge of the clearing, looking for something. “I was convinced that if we went down the river far enough, we’d find fairies, but instead we found this clearing- Aha!”

Elyan knelt next to one of the trees, brushing dirt and moss off of the trunk. Crudely etched into the wood was the word SMITH, though the h looked more like a lopsided n. Percival sat down by the river, grinning. 

“Which one of you did that?” he asked. 

“I did,” said Elyan, and Percival laughed. 

“I hope your sword work has improved since then.”

“I think this is fine craftsmanship,” said Elyan, wandering down to join Percival by the river. “Besides, I was only eleven. And my sword wasn’t that sharp.”

“You had a real sword, at age eleven?” asked Percival. “Given what I’ve heard about you when you were little, that seems like a bad idea.”

“Don’t believe anything Gwen and Leon tell you,” said Elyan. “And I wasn’t really supposed to have it. We just borrowed it so that we could mark our clearing.”

Percival laughed. Elyan poked a stone out of the dirt with his foot before picking it up and tossing it in a high arch to splash down in the middle of the river. 

“Land owners and thieves at the age of eleven. Quite a life you’ve lived.” said Percival, pulling another rock out of the river bank and handing it to Elyan. 

Elyan took careful aim and sent the rock flying over the river, bouncing off of a knot in a tree on the other side. With a satisfied grin, he sat down and flopped back on the grass. 

“Gwen used to tell me that if I could hit that knot, I could be a knight of Camelot.”

“And you believed her?”

“Hey!” said Elyan, in mock offense. “I already had a sword and they wouldn’t let me in, so I naturally assumed there was another test I had yet to pass.”

“I don’t think stealing your father’s sword counts as having a sword,” argued Percival. 

“I was holding it, and therefore it was mine,” said Elyan, waving his hand in the general direction that he thought Percival was in, and succeeding in hitting him on the arm. 

“And besides, don’t pretend you never did anything stupid when you were eleven,” he added. 

“I certainly didn’t steal any swords,” said Percival, catching Elyan’s hand before Elyan could hit him again. 

When Percival didn’t let go of Elyan’s hand, Elyan turned his head away to keep Percival from seeing his uncontrollable grin. 

“Being the son of a blacksmith does come with certain perks,” said Elyan. “Easy access to quality swords is one of them.”

There was a long stretch of quiet, and Elyan tried to focus on the sound of the river, or the wind in the trees, or the birdsong, or anything that wasn’t the warmth of Percival’s hand or the weight of the pendant in his pocket. 

“We didn’t have great forests to hide in, where I grew up, just fields and fields and fields in every direction,” said Percival. “With the mountains on one side and one long road going away on the other.”

Elyan traced his thumb across the back of Percival’s hand. One of Arthur’s journeys had taken him and several of his knights past where Percival’s village had been. It was then he had done the sketch. 

“In early summer,” continued Percival, “kids would get in trouble for hiding in the wheat fields when they were supposed to be working.”

“I assume you used to be one such kid?” asked Elyan, quietly. Percival smiled faintly. 

“If you go out to the middle of a wheat field and lie down and stare up at the sky then it feels like time doesn’t exist. It’s easy to forget that you’re supposed to be doing something,” he said in answer. 

“The thief and the runaway,” said Elyan, softly. “What a pair of eleven year olds we were.”

“At least I didn’t steal a sword,” replied Percival. 

Elyan laughed, sitting back up. He was suddenly aware of the fact that he was still holding Percival’s hand. After a long moment in which his brain did not work, slipped his free hand into his pocket to hold the pendant. 

“I made you something,” he said. Apparently his brain still wasn’t working. “To have a part of your village with you.”

Percival didn’t say anything, and Elyan had suddenly lost the ability to look him in the eyes. Carefully, Elyan pulled out the pendant, with the length of cord dangling in the air. 

“It’s the view of the mountains, from when we passed by it a few months ago,” he rambled. “I took a sketch when we stopped, and I remember you said-”

“That I wanted to be able to see that view every morning again,” finished Percival. 

Elyan looked up as Percival let go of his hand, taking the pendant and holding it, gently cupped in his hands between the two knights. 

“You remembered that?” he asked. 

“I started working on this the day after that patrol returned to Camelot,” said Elyan. “I’m sorry it took me so long to finish it.”

“Elyan, it’s perfect,” said Percival, running one finger along the line of the mountains. 

“I hoped you would like it,” said Elyan, smiling. “It felt like an appropriate way to say thank you.”

Percival looked up.

“Why thank you?” he asked. 

Elyan hesitated. He’d already started, but there was always time to back out. But then again, being around Percival always made him say stupid things. 

“Thank you for reminding me what I’m fighting for, as a knight,” said Elyan. 

Percival looked down at the pendant, then back up at Elyan. 

“What might that be?” he asked. 

“Hope,” said Elyan. “Goodness. Freedom. Love.”

Elyan looked away again, gesturing vaguely. He could hear Percival shift slightly.

“Do you know,” said Percival, “what Gwen was telling me the other day?”

Elyan shook his head, smiling in spite of himself as he looked back at Percival. Percival was now wearing the pendant, still holding it against his chest with one hand. 

“She said that when you’re doing something for someone you love, you put your whole heart into it. And this,” said Percival, holding out the pendant, “is so incredibly perfect, you must have done just that.”

Elyan reached out tentatively, taking Percival’s free hand and twining their fingers together. 

“I think I must have,” he said, quietly. 

Percival let go of the pendant, taking both of Elyan’s hands. Elyan took a soft breath before meeting Percival’s eyes. 

“Elyan,” said Percival, “I love you too.”


End file.
